Comment from Dr. Andreas Kiefer
It’s not enough to change the hardware, the laws. In order for the system to work, the software must also be compatible, i.e. the actors, the politicians at national, regional and local levels and the civil servants subordinate to them.
Dr. Andreas Kiefer
Salzburg (OTS) – Ukraine’s pro-Europe orientation is not new. Ukraine has chosen the European option with democracy and against autocracy since the 1990s and has been a member of the Council of Europe since November 9, 1995. At the beginning of 2019, the Ukrainian parliament enshrined a “strategic orientation of Ukraine towards full accession to the EU and NATO” in the constitution. In March 1998, a partnership and cooperation agreement with the EU came into force, Ukraine has been a member of the EU’s “Eastern Partnership” since 2009, the association agreement has been in force since January 1, 2016, and on June 23, 2022, Ukraine received the status as candidate for accession. A unanimous decision by the European Council is required to begin accession negotiations. The vote will take place in Brussels on December 14th and 15th, 2023.
Ukraine’s membership in the Council of Europe has resulted in numerous positive reforms in the areas of democracy development, decentralization, human rights, the fight against corruption, as well as the rule of law and judicial reform. The Council of Europe’s monitoring reports are public – and in many cases the EU Commission uses these monitoring reports as the basis for its own progress reports on the accession candidates: https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/ukraine
The prospect of EU accession negotiations is a motivating factor
The prospect of EU accession negotiations has led to enormous efforts by Ukrainian actors in recent years and will continue to be an important motivating factor in the future to push forward legal reforms and make them irreversible.
This applies, for example, to strengthening local and regional self-government and thus pluralistic democracy. Since the local elections in 2010, women and men who have nothing to do with the former communist and corrupt Ukraine and are “designers of change” have been elected to councils and mayoral positions in many cities and municipalities every five years. You can read about it in the democratization programs:
www.coe.int/en/web/congress/co-operation-activities-ukraine_2023
The reform
The accession negotiations will spur reform enthusiasm at the national level and, above all, at the level of regions and oblasts (larger administrative areas in Ukraine) as well as in cities and municipalities.
Ukrainian society and economy must be built from the bottom up on the basis of European values and (political and economic) standards in order to be stable in the long term. It is worth investing in this and at the same time making it clear to Ukrainian partners at all levels and to the media that the opening of accession negotiations is only the beginning of a long and difficult process due to the great need for adjustments in laws and regulations. Above all, these must be implemented in daily practice. “It’s not enough to change the hardware, the laws. In order for the system to work, the software must also be compatible, i.e. the actors, the politicians at national, regional and local levels and the civil servants subordinate to them.”
Dr. Andreas Kiefer was Secretary General of the Congress of Regions and Local Authorities of the Council of Europe from 2010 to 2022 (https://www.salzburg.gv.at/themen/europa/eu-infothek/)
CV: https://rm.coe.int/2020-11-ak-cv-curriculum-vitae-de
andreas.kiefer@outlook.com
Questions & Contact:
andreas.kiefer@outlook.com
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